NVIDIA makes GTX 295 official now that it's on sale, 285 too for good measure

We already knew more or less all we needed to know about NVIDIA's GTX 295, however, despite being already on sale, the company has decided now is a good time to grace the model with a press release. The GTX 285 has been given the formal treatment too -- despite not being available until next week. If you missed the earlier specs, the $499(ish) 295 includes dual 55-nm GT200 GPUs and supports nearly 2GB of memory, while the $399 285 makes do with but one processor and an undisclosed RAM ceiling (though the upcoming Winfast, pictured above, comes with 1GB and one yellow robot). Again the 295 is up for order now, while slightly more budget conscious gamers will have to wait until January 15 for the 285.

[Via bit-tech.net]

[eggothewaffle @ Jan 9th 2009 6:02AM]

So what's the memory bandwidth on the GTX285 whip?

[OneLove @ Jan 9th 2009 11:42AM]

This incremental graphics card release shit has gotta stop.

[ProfessorKaos @ Jan 9th 2009 8:55PM]

I agree, when the 8800 GTX came out i instantly got one, that was the last really big whiz bang release, since then its been chicken shit. Bummed as well.

[Chin-Poh @ Jan 9th 2009 6:13AM]

Before anyone can fucking ask, YES it runs Crysis on High and MAYBE GTA4. : )

[ScooterDe @ Jan 9th 2009 7:16AM]

try AVG free, spybot S&D, Adaware

[ScooterDe @ Jan 9th 2009 7:16AM]

sorry Chin-Poh

[CaptainPie @ Jan 9th 2009 12:25PM]

lol, but you forgot about Doom!! and the blendability of said pricey component :p

anywho, niec looking card, grabbed their performance crown back from ATI (even though NVidia said a dual GPU solution was a cheat :) still gonna keep my 4850 crossfire though!

[eggothewaffle @ Jan 9th 2009 6:24AM]

Engadget comments section is not your personal tech support army.

[Chin-Poh @ Jan 9th 2009 6:32AM]

No I'm not, sucks for you Dave S.

[Cool @ Jan 9th 2009 6:34AM]

This one seems perfect only at one look. While I was reading it becomes one of the best buy cards which I saw lately.

[GenBanks @ Jan 9th 2009 6:56AM]

I'm looking forward to the 285, especially if it runs cooler and is quieter than the 280. Not so much the 295. 295 isn't such great value when you consider that it is pretty evenly matched with the 4870 x2 and yet costs more. Some games the 295 is faster, others the 4870x2 is faster. I much prefer single GPU solutions and not having to worry about driver profiles to take advantage of the dual cards in specific games.

[jordan @ Jan 9th 2009 7:01AM]

Driver profiles...dual cards...

wait, do you realize that this is just one card with 2 GPU's? Driver profiles aren't necessary, as a card by itself isn't in SLI mode. :/

[GenBanks @ Jan 9th 2009 7:25AM]

I'm pretty sure it still relies on profiles because it still uses sli to get the benefits of added performance from two GPUs, even though they use one PCIe slot. At least that was the case with the 9800 GX2.

[Daza @ Jan 9th 2009 7:39AM]

Here's a good review of dual GTX 295s (quad-SLI) and CrossfireX (4-way) - comparing two GTX295's and two 4870 x2's:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-295-quad-sli-gaming-test

Thorough review, and I won't spoil the results, but they're pretty apparent from the first test onwards.

[Beastage @ Jan 9th 2009 7:52AM]

Thats not true, recheck the internet man.

the 295 is faster by lunatic margins in some cases, uses less power, runs cooler and actually costs a tiny bit less than 4870x2

The 295 is the new king for at least 2 months now.

[GenBanks @ Jan 9th 2009 8:14AM]

I don't know, this is the review I read that made me think that the 4870x2 and gtx 295 are pretty even:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTYwOCw5LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
Also, in their 'highest playable settings' test, the 4870x2 and gtx 295 are playable at the same maximum setting in most games.

Price might be different in the US, but in the UK it's about 412 for the GTX 295 http://www.scan.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=gtx+295
and 364 lowest price for the 4870x2. http://www.scan.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=4870+x2

[GenBanks @ Jan 9th 2009 7:05AM]

Oh, and also it says on the nvidia website that the 285 indeed has 1gb (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gtx_285_us.html), which is sort of to be expected since it's a 55nm version of the 280 with slightly higher clocks.

[Verythrax @ Jan 9th 2009 7:09AM]

If I get a discount if I don't get that robot?

[hilofi @ Jan 9th 2009 7:35AM]

Will this fit in a VAIO P so I can play Crysis on it?

[Mariano @ Jan 9th 2009 10:06AM]

This cards are bigger than the Vaio P itself

[ijyt @ Jan 9th 2009 7:51AM]

If only I could SLi the 295 with my 9800GX2. :c

[Mikeo @ Jan 9th 2009 7:56AM]

BIG NOTE: New (currently BETA upcoming WHQL) ATI drivers have closed the majority of the gap between the GTX 295 and 4870X2.


The 295 now leads 5%-10% at lower resolutions while costing 25% more. It craps out (totally dies away) at 2560*1600 with 8xMSAA due to lack of memory (295 has 2* 896MB, ATI has 2*1)

[melloncollie @ Jan 9th 2009 9:14AM]

Anything to back that up with?
Links?

[Cyberziggy @ Jan 9th 2009 9:21AM]

I hear there's gonna be an AGP version!

[dark star @ Jan 9th 2009 10:27AM]

there used to be pictures of pretty girls on the cards too. now theres a robot holding a gun?
i would buy one if theres a pict of Jessica Alba!

[mm @ Jan 9th 2009 12:19PM]

Guess you won't be buying any cards...

[Noah @ Jan 9th 2009 11:12AM]

Esat... look again. He listed out a ton of URLs. He is clearly trying to manipulate the search engines. This spammer isn't even remotely clever.

[Noah @ Jan 9th 2009 11:52AM]

::queue sound of crickets::

[Mic2000 @ Jan 9th 2009 12:39PM]

Still no DirectX10.1 support, too bad, hopely GT3xx

[Chris @ Jan 9th 2009 1:58PM]

So the GTX 285 is really just a 55nm 280, right?

[ryko @ Jan 10th 2009 3:40AM]

No its just two GTX252.5s in SLI.

[Seneca @ Jan 9th 2009 2:36PM]

The fact that the robot looks a lot like an Evangelion makes me hope it the card doesn't come complete with excessive teen angst, or that you can hear, "I mustn't run away" coming from the fan.

[poematik14 @ Jan 9th 2009 7:21PM]

My GTX 260 still chews up anything I give it. I don't see the need for an upgrade.

[diamondandy @ Jan 11th 2009 3:02PM]

oh my...